Dream Girl
by angelbreaker
Summary: Draco's constricted lifestyle never really bothered him, until Hermione decided that he isn't all bad, and befriended him, like it or not. But will the friendship stand up when Lucius' plans come together? Will Draco follow his father's dreams or his own?
1. Chapter 1

A/n: Another story about Draco/Hermione! I'm sensing a pattern…

Anyway, as usual I would like a lot of feedback on this one. Please don't just read it and not review, I love to have reviews, and I'd really, really, like to know what you all think, that's why I post these stories.

Draco is having dreams in this one, and I know it's a bit confusing to know whether he is or not at first, but it's supposed to be like that.

Chapter One 

Draco paced the hospital corridor, fearing for her life. Why had they rushed him out of the room? Something was seriously wrong. He could hear screaming coming from her room, and wanted more than anything to be in there, only the knowledge that the doctors knew best kept him from bursting in there.

A little while later, the screaming stopped for a while, and then started again. It wasn't the same screaming as before, it was higher pitched and less pain filled. The door opened and a smiling nurse came to see him, a little bundle in her arms. Never before in his life has he felt this nervous.

"Congratulations, Draco, you're a father." They had decided not to find out the sex of the child until it came into the world, and the blue blankets made his heart leap. The nurse handed him the smallest human he had ever seen, his heir, his son. Happiness overflowed in his heart as he held the child close. A sense of well being he had never felt in all his life washed over him as he looked down at the calm and calculating grey eyes that were so much like his own. The nurse watched on, smiling to herself.

"Is she alright? Can I see her now?" He looked expectantly at the nurse.

"She's is just fine, she was a little drowsy, and wanted you to meet the child first. You can go in a see her now." The door swung open and Draco got the impression of a figure, lying exhausted on the bed.

In a flash of bright white, he opened his eyes.

Draco Malfoy opened his eyes. The canopy of his four poster bed was all he saw. Sighing, he reached for the bell pull next to his bed. A house elf came in and bowed. "What is your desire, master Malfoy?"

"Coffee, Dora. No milk two sugars."

"As you wish, sir." The house elf scampered away. He went to the window of his bedroom and sat at it, running his fingers through his blonde locks. The dream was ebbing away from him slowly now, and he was the better for it. Being a father was something Draco never wanted to do, for fear of being his own father. Marriage was unavoidable, he supposed. It would inevitably be a match made by his father to promote good business relations for the Malfoy family.

Dora came in slowly and carefully, making sure she didn't spill a drop of her master's coffee. She laid it on the table and stood by it, dutifully. It took him a while to notice her; he was lost in his own thoughts. But when he did notice her he did a rare thing, he smiled at the house elf and thanked her for the coffee. "You may leave now, Dora." She bowed low, and left, eyes wide with the ecstasy that house elves got when they earned praise from their masters. This was a rare occurrence in the Malfoy residence, so Dora savoured the moment as she left.

Draco picked up the coffee and went back to the window, sipping it pensively. What had brought about this good mood? For one thing he was getting out of the castle that day. His father had him confined to the grounds at all times, protection, his father said. Draco often wondered whether the protection was for him or the knowledge he had of his father's doings.

It was time for him to go to Diagon Alley, to buy his equipment for the year ahead. It was to be his fifth year and he was slytherin prefect. His own bedroom and common room located in the slytherin dungeons. By some stroke of luck, his father had a meeting today and he couldn't make it to take him. He was to go with his limousine driver, Crabbe, his henchman's uncle.

He made his way into his en suite bathroom and quickly showered, changing into some black trousers and a black shirt, over the top he put a black robe. His father's rule even comes down to what he wears. Dora came in again and told him that breakfast was being served.

The journey down to breakfast took a long time. He had been given the wing at the back of the castle so that he could stay out of the way of his father as much as possible. He was to stay there until he was sent for; he even had he own part of the grounds.

As he stepped down the long, bare corridors that made up his home, his footsteps echoed off the walls. When he finally made it into the dining, he stood at the door and waited to be asked to join his parents.

When he was given consent to do so, he bowed low to his mother, who merely nodded and took his seat.

The table was ten feet long, and Draco sat in the middle of it, whilst his mother and father sat at the ends. None of them spoke during the meal, but when it was finished, Draco's father signalled for him to go away again with a flick of his palm. Once again he bowed low to his mother, who nodded once more, and took his leave of his parents.

He usually only saw his mother at meal times, she was weak and kept to her chambers most of the day. He only saw his father when he decided it was time to test the boy's knowledge, or to take him along to a business meeting to keep the contact's children out of the way.

All his things had been ready since the night before, yet he still had an hour until the limo was to pick him up. He lay on his couch with a book, reading to pass the time.

He was on the last chapter, when exactly an hour later Vincent Crabbe knocked on his door. This made him jump, Crabbe was the only one who ever did it, and Dora introduced even Goyle.

"Come in," Draco called, and Crabbe opened the door and stood by it.

"My uncle's here to see us to Diagon alley." Draco stood up and picked up his bag.

"Let's go then, we don't want to keep him waiting," he followed Crabbe out of the castle.

Draco came in from work, exhausted. After taking off his coat he wandered into the living room to see his son crawling around on the floor by the sofa, rolling a ball before him. When he entered the room the toddler looked up, gurgling with delight he got to his feet and walked to his daddy.

Draco picked him up and spun him round, making the boy shriek with joy.

"Is that you, Draco?"

"Sure is, honey." He carried their child into the kitchen, where a small table was covered in food. Standing at the stove and smiling at him was-

"Draco?" He woke up from his daze. Crabbe was looking at him, concerned. "Are you all right?"

"Of course, I was merely thinking about how to make the most of my new position in the school." He looked out of the window again, the forests in which his castle was located had long past, and they were almost at the leaky cauldron.

"So, what did you come up with?" Crabbe grinned at him.

"What? Oh, I see what you mean." He gazed out of the window at the passing people. A couple walked arm in arm down the street, pushing a little girl in a pushchair. He shuddered and started erasing that particular dream from his memory, glad that he didn't get to see the mystery woman. "You shall know when you need to." Crabbe nodded and said no more about it.

A/N: A bit of scene setting there, please review, and I know what the dreams look like now, but just remember I am a big fan of plot twists!


	2. Chapter 2

A/n: Nothing to say. Hahaha, made you read. Chapter Two - Diagon Alley 

As soon as they got into Diagon Alley, Draco took his leave of the driver and his school friend. The older Crabbe looked confused, and Draco decided that his father had told him not to let him out of his sight, but he was not going to waste the precious freedom from the castle, the school and his father by spending it with a minder, and silenced his unspoken protests with a look. He promised to meet up with the two in a few hours for lunch and left them to shop for Crabbe's needs in peace, savouring the freedom, even if it was limited to one street of shops. Malfoy was a solitary creature, had been all his life. No one could blame him with his parents, who chose everything for him, even the people he was allowed to call friends. Now he sauntered at a leisurely pace down the street, stopping to inspect things in the shops for the first time, because all other times he'd had his father hurrying him past them.

On his way to Madame Malkin's Robes shop, he passed the wizard bank Gringotts, and saw the Mudblood Granger sitting on the pure white steps of the bank. He grinned to himself, she was alone, like him, and he could actually talk to her if he wanted, without his father's reprimand for 'fraternising with sub humans' or whatever to worry about.

"Hello, Granger." He stopped in front of her and she looked up, and scowled at him.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" He was quite taken aback by her reaction, he had been perfectly civil.

"Oh, I don't know, but I wouldn't be messing up the steps with your Mudblood." He countered. She stood and glared at him.

"Take that back." She approached him slowly and dangerously.

"Gladly, Hermione, I'm sorry." He made a face of fake contriteness. She watched him, confused, and then decided that it was genuine.

"You're forgiven." Her expression softened and she actually smiled at him.

"But seriously, the goblins have to scrub the Mudblood off those steps every day." His forehead wrinkled with concern, his hand on his hip, inspecting the steps.

She laughed, Malfoy was taken aback, she was supposed to be angry with him, that's how it goes. Then she punched him on the arm, but not in a nasty way, in a friendly way, he fancied. He could think of nothing to say to this. He'd never been involved in friendly 'banter' before; when he spoke he was either deathly serious or plain vicious.

"Get away from her!" Ron and Harry came running up, wands at the ready. "I swear if you touch a hair on her head." Ron pointed his wand at Malfoy's neck.

Malfoy looked at him, amused. At least Weasley knew the proper conduct. "You'll what? Wave a stick at me? You can't use that out of school, you know."

"No, but I can use this!" He raised his fist and went to grab Malfoy by his shirt.

"Oh stop it, Ron, Malfoy wasn't doing anything!" Hermione stepped forward looking amused and crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at him.

Ron looked from Hermione to Malfoy suspiciously. "He wasn't doing anything? He was being nice? Yeah, right." He glared at Malfoy, then let go of his shirt.

Malfoy saw that Ron's mother was coming up to greet them, and decided to leave. "I'll see you later, Mudblood."

He walked off, ignoring Ron who had just gone for him again, but was stopped by his mother. Glancing back at the group, he saw Hermione receiving a huge bear hug from Mrs Weasley, and felt a pang of jealousy. It quickly subsided as he smirked at Ron, who was scowling after him.

He sauntered off to the robe store, where he bought five new lesson robes and a dress robe of rich velvet black. His elation from the freedom surged once more, and he thought how immensely odd it was not to have his father or teachers watching over him again. It was rather confusing that Granger was nice to him, though, he had openly insulted her and she had _laughed_, as in joyfully, not nastily.

An hour later, he wandered up the street, going to Flourish and Blotts. He passed the little ice cream café that he was forbidden to go near, on account of the owner being muggle born. Granger, Potty and Weasel were sitting outside it; each had a huge glass of ice cream that looked to be changing colour the whole time. Weasel said something that was apparently very funny, because the other two laughed until ice cream came out of Potter's nose, which made them laugh harder.

Malfoy walked quicker, if they chose to waste their lives talking and laughing then that was their problem, he had better things to do than watch them.

After he had finished in Flourish and Blotts and got his other effects, including a new cauldron, he went in search of Crabbe, wishing to go home as soon as possible. When he did find him, he was chuckling with Goyle. Draco waited patiently for them to stop.

"Oh hi Draco, we was just talking about you." Goyle wiped a tear from his eye.

"Well that's, disturbing." He turned to Crabbe. "Where is your uncle, I wish to go home now."

"Err… right, he's in the leaky cauldron, he told us to meet him back there." He led the way down the cobbled street.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three - Aboard the Train 

The last few days of summer leaked by without incident, as Draco was left to wander his home alone. The next time he saw anyone but a house elf was when he found himself being dropped off at platform 9 ¾. His father gave him the usual lecture about pure blood and the Malfoy honour at Hogwarts and he was set loose for another year. Pushing his trolley before him, his eagle owl perched on the top. He made his way to the back car, where the prefects had a private car to themselves. Shoving his case under a seat, he brought out one of his favourite books and began to read.

A few minutes later he heard Granger, Potty and Weasel outside the door. "Wait a minute, Ron, I have to sit in the back car." Granger's shrill voice sounded out.

"Ugh, rather you than me, Malfoy's in there." Weasel's voice was full of disgust.

"Thank you very much, I'm sure I'll be fine." Granger sounded so pretentious, he could imagine her chin lifting and a look of superiority on her face. He shook his head.

"Look, if he tries anything…" Potty said quietly.

"He won't." The door slid open and her trunk came in, pushed by the two boys, who scowled at him then, stored it under the seat.

Granger came in next, and smiled at them. "We'd better find seats; the train will be going soon." Potty told her, and with one more scowl at Malfoy, they left.

Hermione sat in the seat the furthest away from Malfoy. He just sneered at her and continued reading, not looking up at her as he spoke. "So, you became a prefect then, Mudblood? Well, can't say I'm surprised, you do spend all your time in the library." He sneered and turned the page. "Can't say I blame you, if I was friends with Potter and Weasley I would spend all my time hiding from them too."

"Oh, drop the act, Malfoy." She glared at him.

"What?" He looked at her suspiciously. What act? He would hide from those two idiots. Although he did spend a lot of time hiding from Crabbe and Goyle, too.

"You may act like a jerk, talk like a jerk and look like a jerk, but I know you're not that bad really."

Putting down his book, he glared at her. That was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him. "What makes you say that?" He drawled.

"Well, come on, you were perfectly nice outside Gringotts." Granger said in a matter-of-fact way that annoyed Draco intensely.

"I…" He let out a frustrated sigh. He was insulting her! Why did she have to make everything to difficult? "Wait, I look like a jerk?" He ran his fingers through his perfectly gelled hair. "In what way do I look like a jerk?"

She looked at him calculatingly, "It's your hair." He was about to ask what was wrong with his hair when the other prefects filed in. He just sneered at her and carried on reading his book. He did notice, however, that Justin Finch-Fletchy was the Hufflepuff Prefect and Padma Patil had made prefect for the Ravenclaws.

He was still wondering about his hair when that fat old witch came in with the trolley. As he never bought anything from the trolley, he just ignored her. Slowly as the day wore on, the prefects petered out of the car, in search of friends. As the only friends he had were Crabbe and Goyle, and he treasured the time he spent away from those freaks, he stayed where he was, calmly reading his book.

The book was about a witch, who had tried to unite the muggles and wizards of France to conquer the English, but instead was kidnapped by the English muggles and burnt on a stake. After this, she settled down with a muggle. A ridiculous story about an upstart Mudblood.

Pretty soon, there was only one other person in the car. Granger had her nose in one of the books they had been set. "What about my hair?" He demanded. The question had been nagging him since she had said it, and he again touched his head.

She jumped, and then looked around, seeing him glare at her. "Oh, it's you." She closed her book and looked at him with her head on one side. "Well, when you slick it back like that, it looks, well, evil and jerk-like." She shrugged and returned to her book.

He suddenly got angry with her. "Why aren't you going to see your friends, Granger? They can't have _both _knocked you back." She flushed red and then smiled knowingly.

"Well, I liked the peace and quiet of this car, but if you insist on trying to engage me in a conversation, I would much rather go speak to my _friends. _ Why don't you go speak to yours, Malfoy?" She smiled winningly at him then left.

His face went red and he kicked the seat. So what if he didn't have any real friends? "Who needs them?" He said loudly to himself. Then he returned to his book for the remainder of the journey.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four - Prefect Duties 

After the feast, McGonagall grabbed Hermione by the shoulder. "This way please Miss Granger." She led her to Gryffindor tower, but instead of going through the portrait hole, she led her down the corridor and up to a statue. "The password is 'Floridium Vitae'."

When this was said, the statue began to spin, then rise, leaving behind it a spiralling staircase. "Goodnight, Miss Granger." McGonagall smiled proudly at her and left.

Hermione climbed the staircase and looked around approvingly. The room she stood in was perfectly round, with a window looking over the lake. There was a huge bookcase that reached the high ceiling and a ladder to get up to the top shelves. Surrounding the fireplace was two sofas and an armchair with a table in the middle. The whole room was red and gold.

On the table was a letter. Sitting on a sofa, she opened it and read it. It said this:

_Hermione Granger,_

_Well done on becoming the Gryffindor Prefect. I hope you like the apartments you are staying in._

_These will be your home for the next three years. You will be required to hold meetings with the Head Girl and Boy and the other Prefects of your year in the common room, so please keep the rooms tidy. The bedroom is up the stairs behind the picture of the lion._

_There is a meeting at lunchtime tomorrow for all the new Prefects in the Head Girl and Boy's apartments. Go to the statue of the scholar on the fifth floor, the password is 'Tia Maria'._

_You will be given all the information at the meeting._

_Yours truly,_

_The Head boy, George Weasley_

_The Head Girl, Clara Redhill_

She put the letter on the table and looked about the room. There was a painting of a regal lion, the Gryffindor emblem. She swung it open and found a narrow winding staircase leading upwards. At the top she found a door, she went through the door and found a room, semi-circle in shape, half as big as the common room, but still bigger than the dorm she had slept in the year before. It was decorated in red and gold again, and there was a king size four-poster-bed, on the duvet was a lion. Next to the dresser was a full size mirror and at the end of the bed was her suitcase.

Another door led to the huge bathroom, the same size as the bedroom. A bath the size of a small swimming pool was set in the floor, with about a million taps around the edge. There was a ladder leading to the bottom of the tub.

Suddenly overcome with exhaustion, she went back into the bedroom and changed into her nightclothes. Slipping into the bed, she found it deliciously warm. 'House-Elves.' She thought sharply, but couldn't think of the evils of slavery because she sank into a much-needed sleep.

Draco woke up to find himself in a cold sweat. Who was that damn girl who was supposed to make him so damn happy? He had caught a glimpse of blond hair before he had woken up. Pansy? Why would she ever cook anything? Nothing she does ever makes him happy.

He wandered into the bathroom and got in the bath. After that he went back into the bedroom and got changed. As he went to the mirror to fix his hair, he remembered what that Mudblood had said. His hair looked like a jerk? Wondering what she meant, he inspected his hair, which was now flopping over his eyes. He went for the wax to smooth it all back into place, but decided not to, and just combed it and let it hang over his forehead. He did it because he needed a change. He'd be damned if some fickle Mudblood was going to have any effect on what he does in life.

The next morning she awoke to the sound of a bird chirping outside her window. Her room smelt of roses. Lying with her eyes shut she marvelled at how a morning could be this peaceful. Most mornings she had woken up to in this castle was filled with giggling and the hustle and bustle of Parvati and Lavender putting on as much make-up as they possibly could without looking like they have any make-up on at all.

After a quick change and brushing her teeth, she left her apartments for breakfast. The feast felt a long time ago in the excitement of viewing her new quarters. Entering the Great Hall she quickly located Harry and Ron, and took up a seat next to them.

When the timetables were handed out, there was a note attached to them, telling the students that the teachers all had to attend a very important meeting, so lessons wouldn't start until after lunch.

"Perfect!" Ron beamed, "Hermione has time to show us her new room."

"I wonder what the meeting is about; they've never stopped classes before." Harry muttered darkly.

"I would have thought that obvious." Hermione slipped into her usual matter-of-fact tone. "Everyone knows that you-know-who has his eye on this place, his two worst enemies under the same roof!" They all shuddered. Hermione and Ron avoided eye contact with Harry.

"Well, we've beaten him before, and we'll beat him again!" Said Ron triumphantly.

"You most certainly will not!" McGonagall came storming up to him. "That's the sort of attitude that gets people killed. You will do as you're told and not go looking for trouble!" She glared at the three of them and stormed off.

"Touchy…" Ron whispered.

After breakfast, Hermione led them to her apartments. As soon as they got to the top of the staircase, Harry gasped and Ron whooped. "Woah, Hermione. This place rocks!"

Hermione beamed, "Sort of does, doesn't it?" She gave them a tour of the three rooms and then they went back into the common room and she gave them the letter to read.

Ron sat back after he read it, "I still can't believe that George made Head Boy! I don't think mum's ever been so proud in her entire life!"

"Yeah, George and Fred have been planning the parties all summer!"

They sat in discussion for a long time, eventually joined by Ginny, whom Hermione had given the password to at breakfast.

"Wow Hermione, you're so lucky!" She gazed about the room in awe.

Pretty soon a bell rang out. The four rose and left the common room. "I'll catch up with you guys later; I gotta get to the meeting."

"See ya later, 'Mione."

Hermione entered the Head Students common and looked about in sheer amazement. The room was easily twice as big as her common room and was decorated in the colours of Gryfindor and Ravenclaw. A red haired figure was lying on the sofa and as she approached, she saw it was Fred Weasley.

He looked up at her and smiled. "Hey Hermione, George is in the headmasters office, discussing something or other." It didn't really surprise her that Fred was there, him and George were inseparable, what did surprise her was that he hadn't gone with him to the Headmasters office. "Nice place he has here, isn't it? It's huge and he only has to share it with one other person!"

"That's not strictly true." Clara came out of her bedroom. Clara was a pretty girl with shoulder length blonde hair and widely spaced blue eyes. "I doubt that we will be able to get rid you."

"That's right, sweetheart" he grinned and turned back to Hermione. Adding in a whisper, "I think she likes me." He said it just so loud for Clara to hear, and she threw a pillow at him, before sitting next to Hermione.

"Get over yourself."

He threw it back, "you get over me." The frivolous chatter was cut short as George arrived with the other three prefects.

Fred wrinkled his nose. "Oh, you have a meeting. Well, as much as I'd love to stay, I'm kinda tired so I'll just take a nap."

"Well, if you do insist on throwing a party all night." Clara said sternly. Fred just stuck his tongue out at her and went into George's room. Hermione wandered why she had not been invited, and then realised it was probably because they had most likely just gathered everyone from the Gryffindor common room. She felt slightly lonely, but then remembered the wonderful night of sleep she got and quickly forgot her troubles.

"Right, now he's out of the picture, let's get on with the meeting." Justin and Padma sat next to Hermione and Malfoy took an armchair a little way apart.

"You're duties as first year prefects are to roam the halls at night, making sure there is nothing going on after lights out. This will be done in pairs. You also will have to listen to the students' problems and present solutions to the teachers. Every year we hold three balls, Halloween, Christmas and at the end of the year. Each year of prefects takes a different ball to organise. Yours is the End of Year Ball." Clara looked to George to continue.

"Now, we have to pick your pairs for monitoring the halls." He brought out a quill and a piece of parchment and wrote down everyone's names, which he then put in his hat. The hat shook for a second, and then spat out a piece of parchment, which Clara caught. "Padma, you're choosing."

Padma looked hopefully at Hermione then put her hand in the hat, drawing a slip of parchment. Looking at the piece of paper, she grinned. "Hermione, looks like it's you and me."

Hermione let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding in and hugged her friend. Justin grinned at Malfoy and slapped him on the back, "Well, we're partners, partner." Malfoy scowled dangerously at Justin. "Quite."

"Well, that concludes our meeting; Justin and Draco will patrol tonight. You will have a weekly meeting in one of your common rooms and meet here with us once a month. See you next month." Clara smiled at them as they left.


End file.
